Earthquake
| rarity = Rare | type = Instant | casting_cost = | research_cost = | effects = Strikes the target Town with the following effects: * Each Town Building has a 15% chance of being destroyed; * Any non- , corporeal unit in the garrison has a 25% chance of being destroyed. }} Earthquake is a Rare Instant Spell of the Realm. It may only be cast on the overland map. For the base Casting Cost of , Earthquake will shake a target Town with violent tremors, collapsing its Town Buildings with a 15% chance each, and destroying any units stationed there with a 25% chance each. Only and Non-Corporeal units are exempt from this effect. Effects Earthquake unleashes the wrath of the earth on the target Town, randomly breaking down its Town Buildings and slaying its defenders. Somewhat counter-intuitively though, no citizens will ever be harmed by this spell. Town Building Destruction Upon casting Earthquake, the game rolls a random number between 1 and 100 for every Town Building already constructed the target Town. Each building for which the result is 15 or less is immediately destroyed (a 15% chance per building). However, if the structure is required by another, still intact building, it will be spared regardless of the roll. This essentially means that only the top-tier structures of a building line are actually valid targets, and replaced buildings that are not even visible in the cityscape window may never be destroyed by this spell. For instance, if a City has a Shrine, a Temple, and a Parthenon, then the first two are in no danger of collapsing, even though the Parthenon will be lost 15% of the time. Unit Destruction The game also generates a random number between 1 and 100 for every unit located on the Town's tile. Each unit for which the result is 25 or less is immediately destroyed, regardless of how powerful it is or how many it has. However, and Non-Corporeal units are completely exempt from this effect, and will never be hurt by this spell. Usage Earthquake may only be cast on the overland map, for a basic Casting Cost of . It must be targeted at a Town not owned by the caster. A successful cast will automatically open the cityscape window of the selected Town. A few moments later, violent tremors will shake the screen, and any buildings destroyed by the spell will immediately be shown turning to rubble. If the City belongs to the human player, the extent of the destruction will also be detailed in the summary shown when their next turn begins. Otherwise, it must be inspected manually to determine whether the spell succeeded in removing any garrisoned units. Acquisition As a Rare Spell of the Realm, Earthquake may become available to any Wizard who acquires at least Spellbooks. With any less, the spell can not be learned during the campaign. This is the minimum requirement for it to be traded for, appear in Treasure, or be found in the spoils of victory when conquering the Fortress of a rival Wizard who already knows it. The base chance for Earthquake to be researchable (at some point) in the campaign is roughly 10% (with books), which gradually increases with the amount of Spellbooks possessed or found during gameplay. With or more, the spell is certain to show up sooner or later, unless acquired from another source. It has a Research Cost of , although its research is quicker for Wizards possessing the Sage Master, and/or Nature Mastery Retorts; or a bookshelf containing or more. Earthquake may also be selected as a starting spell by players who allocate all of of their picks into books when creating their Wizard. In this case, it will be available for casting as soon as the game begins. Strategy Earthquake can serve two primary purposes, although it's not exactly a surefire way of accomplishing either. It may be used to damage a rival Wizard's infrastructure, or attempt to slay one or more powerful enemy units. In the first scenario, the spell will naturally be more effective the larger the target Town is. While a 15% chance to destroy each Town Building may seem like a lot, the fact that only the top tier structures can be affected does impose a severe limitation. Nonetheless, it is also true that these are typically the buildings with the highest Construction Cost, and will therefore take the longest to rebuild. They also tend to have the most powerful benefits and, in certain cases, enable the recruitment of a strong unit type that empires are likely to be relying on. For instance, the Paladins of the High Men require a Cathedral to train, which is impossible to protect from this spell, as it will always remain the highest tier building in its line, and is required by no others. Similarly, Races with strong Magicians or Warlocks need expensive Wizards' Guilds to create these units, which is another top tier structure that is always a valid target for Earthquake. Of course, there is no guarantee that the spell will be able to take out any specific structure, but Cities with the above buildings are likely to be rich in good targets anyway. In addition, recruitment centers in general may be worth casting Earthquake on regardless, especially if they are producing top tier units like the ones mentioned above. This ties in with the second major use of the spell, which is trying eliminate powerful units that may prove difficult to engage in combat - and the bigger the target garrison, the more such enemies are likely to fall victim to the spell. While this applies mostly to Normal Units and the occasional high-level rival Hero, some Rare and Very Rare Fantastic Units may also be destroyed by Earthquake by virtue of them being neither nor Non-Corporeal. Some prime examples are , , , and . Much like the Combat Instant , Earthquake also ignores some of the most potent defensive abilities in the game, including Magic Immunity and Regeneration. Whether Merging units should be affected by this spell is a topic of some debate though, and may be changed in a future patch. Although Earthquake can also be used to soften up the defenders before laying siege to a Town, its chance of collapsing buildings will often offset this advantage if the intent is to keep the conquered City. Therefore, in these situations, may be a better bet unless the enemy is well protected from Conventional . However, Earthquake's fairly decent destruction ratio among its valid targets does make it a good choice against heavily garrisoned Towns when their state after the capture is of lesser importance - especially if the settlements are meant to be razed anyway. Known Bugs Unlike similar spells, Earthquake completely ignores Town protections. It is neither fizzled by , nor can it be countered by activated Nightshades despite clearly being a City Spell. By contrast, both these effects work against tile spells such as and if targeted directly at a City; and although they won't be triggered by and either, they can selectively prevent even Global Enchantments from harming the settlement - with the exception of the also Earthquake-like effect of . In addition, as noted above, it is debatable whether Merging units should be possible to slay with this spell. In the case of , the unofficial Insecticide patch has already granted immunity to units possessing this ability, but the same was not extended to overland Earthquakes created by any source. Category:Instant Spells Category:Nature